I was born in a trunk. Mama died and my daddy got drunk. Left me here to die alone In the middle of Tobacco Road. Anyway, I’m sure you remember that little ditty now, but what’s that got to do with the story you say? Well it’s a lot like the vast piles of metric bikes that were used and abused back in the ‘70s and left to die alone on some tobacco road of their own. But not this...

  This isn’t one of those cafes that just sports a set of clip-ons, rearsets, and a different seat and tail section to make it “special”, but a truly ground-up custom. Everything has been touched, tweaked, and replaced until the only thing left of the donor bike is the very basic engine architecture. Brian Schimke of TPJ Customs fabbed up the frame and swingarm with sport bike...

  Obviously anyone who knows the least bit about Rick knows he’s a sharp cookie (there’s another one of those old sayings I don’t understand) when it comes to promoting his dealership or himself. Taking on a line of made-in-India single-cylinder bikes to sell out of a dealership known for outlandishness just doesn’t fit the wild tie-dyed chopper image Rick’s cultivated. So, why not...

  Now I know (wink-wink) that about 99% of the Harley owners I’ve spoken with deny ever having owned or ridden anything from across the Atlantic or Pacific. Apparently everybody just went out and bought a new Softail or whatever Harley model for their first bike and never looked back. Good for them. Unfortunately for the wonderful lore of that story, most riders started out young...

  Besides his trademark Mohawk, Russell’s been famous for his ground-up builds that made the Exile aesthetic recognizable from a block away. “I was a little concerned at first that I wouldn’t be able to get my personal satisfaction from playing with Harleys that I get from my ground-up builds but I have to say I was wrong. I get as excited about the Harleys that go out of here with...

  Well enough of all that personal crap and it’s time to get on with the feature bike at hand. Man of few words, Mr. Blaufeder quickly describes TT’s build as “a ’66 Bonneville bobber, blue with white stripes, white solo seat, blah, blah, blah . . .” I think that’s a little too short and sweet of a description so I push Steve for a bit more words. “We built the bike here at TT...

A tidy little example of their work is featured here with the 1967 TR6 R they customized and refurbished and generally brought back from the dead to a whole new life of 650cc vertical twin pleasure. “We worked on this bike in conjunction with a guy [Eric Anderson] who inherited a lot of bikes from his grandfather we think. His grandfather and father were both riders, but anyway he...

Throw on a supercharger, though, and a hated Goldwing becomes immediately interesting to him. Must be the old racer in him always interested in balls-out performance. Or, it just might be that the edgy lowrider 1977 GL 1000 built by Blacksmith Motoring Co. in Round Lake, Illinois, has every piece and part massaged and redesigned until it almost becomes unrecognizable as a threat to...

  Besides being a bike builder, Greg’s a high-performance car guy with features in magazines like Hot Rod, Car Craft, and 5.0 Mustang. Hot Rod’s often pushed its “Dare to be different” mantra trying to get readers and builders interested in something other than a ’69 Camaro or a ’57 Chevy or a ’32 Ford and to not be afraid to step outside the bounds of established models and...

  Now I’ve never eaten candy magenta scallops and never will even if someone figures out a recipe for them, but I have seen them in the combined work of TT Cycles’ painter extraordinaire and man-about-town, Dennis Harrold, with a lovely garnish of pin striping by pinstriped extraordinaire, Greg Ross, on this lovely TT Cycles-built 1967 Triumph TR6 bobber, They look marvelously...